“I know the bowels of the building,” he said, laughing. “I only ever moved chairs onstage.”

He can now say he's done much more than that. Hicks plays several roles in “Ragtime,” a musical adaptation of E.L Doctorow's 1975 historical novel.

The show opens Friday at the Empire.

It was supposed to open at the Playhouse. It's a Playhouse production, after all. But that theater is going dark for the rest of the summer as repairs are being made to its roof and ceiling, which were damaged in the May 25 storms.

The Playhouse is owned by the city, which will take care of the repairs. And the city helped the theater land at the Empire.

“The space is incredible and it really fits this show,” said Asia Ciaravino, president and CEO of the Playhouse. “'Ragtime' can really live in that space and breathe in it.”

Legend has it that Houdini himself played the Empire in his career, the cast learned during its first rehearsal in the space. The theater was built in 1913, not too long after the play is set.

The musical paints a portrait of the United States that remains timely. It deals with racism, immigration, labor issues and the shifting roles of women, among other things.

Director Molly Cox and the design team had to shift their approach to the material when it became clear that the show would have to move. And, since design decisions were being made before a new venue had been lined up, it also meant that every aspect of production would have to be simple and flexible.

“We made the conscious decision to say, 'Scrap the pretense of production for this show,'” said Cox. “Let's just tell the story.”

More Information

On stage

What: Playhouse production of “Ragtime”

Where: Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary's St.

When: 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 28.

Tickets: $10-$25 at theplay
housesa.org or call 210-733-7258 for reservations.

“The characters sometimes talk about themselves directly to the audience,” she said. “We've really had to develop this as sort of an interesting way to be storytellers.”

Fans of the show who caught the big-buzz staging of it at the Zach Scott Theatre in Austin last fall have the makings of a great game of compare and contrast.

“We are doing this in such a dramatically different way that it's an interesting experiment unto itself,” Cox said. “The Zach did it with every bell and whistle; we're creating bells and whistles with our mouths.”